June 18, 2013

A little Entrelac on the side

I was sitting on the porch during a short break between hauling loads of boxes and baubles a few days ago, thinking about how I had reached the boring section of the socks I've been working on (the foot) when a sudden flash of panic seized me and I realized that I had no viable sample knit for the Entrelac class I am teaching in (gasp!) 3 weeks! (July 13th so mark your calendar and call the Art Guild to register) What else hadn't I done? The yarn base that I am supposed to dye for the class. One has to actually order it if one is going to dye it, right? I am living proof that moving makes your brain fall out.

It cost me a bruised little toe, but after a few maniacal minutes of moving and re-stacking a mountain of boxes in the new living room, I managed to find two hanks of Twisted Sisters 50/50 silk/merino in a stash box and cast on. In the twisted hank, the yarn is quite attractive. In Entrelac ... well, not so much. The gold forces the eye away from the pretty sea foam and grey shades. I've been trying to convince myself that the dominance of the gold would just blend into the background as the piece got longer. It's not.

I am also having flashbacks to the last time I did Entrelac with a 50/50 silk/merino hand paint by Cherry Tree Hill and ALL of the dye bled out with the first hand wash, leaving me with an olive so drab that the Army wouldn't even claim it. Still, I intend to persevere.

I have started on the sample for the class again. This time I'm using a superwash kettle dye (Grasshopper) of my own. The weight is lighter than what I had planned to use for the class (sport instead of DK) but it's turning out to have a pretty stitch definition as it is. I guess it's lucky that I didn't order the yarn yet, after all.

The Entrelac pattern selection on Ravelry was less than satisfying, so I am writing this one as I go. I have intentions of making this into a cowl pattern of some length. That way, anyone in the class not into cowls can add some fringe or not and wear it as a scarf.

And on a humerous note ... I had to retrieve my knitting needle order from the post office yesterday afternoon for this project. When I saw the gigantic box that the 10" needles had been shipped in, I exclaimed "Wow! That's a pretty big box for one little pair of knitting needles!" (This was met with a "Glad they're not poking out the end of the box. You should see how badly packaged those cheap Ginsu knives come in here!" banter that sucked up everyone behind the counter into an odd knife shipment reverie for some minutes that could only have taken place in a Southern rural post office.) There's a funny part: as I was walking away from the counter, one postal lady called out to me in the same tone I imagine she would use if she were warning me to stay away from Crack, "Honey, you be careful now. I hear that knitting can be pretty addictive once you learn how!" I just smiled and thought, "Ya think?!?!?"